The present invention relates to an automotive aid in the form of a device to concentrate and direct heated air, from the engine through the windshield defroster vents, against the windshield. In winter, particularly in the northern states of the U.S., drivers frequently experience the accumulation of ice and snow on the exposed windshield of the driver's automobile. Typically, the only implement available to the driver is a scraping device, which is helpful to removing loose snow.
However, a layer of fresh ice, underlying the snow, is difficult to remove with the scraping device. While attempting to remove the ice, the driver starts the engine and turns on the defroster to initiate melting of the ice. Unfortunately, the hot air exiting the defroster vents often pass directly into the automobile's interior with only a portion thereof directed toward the windshield. As a consequence, a lot of wasted time is spent waiting for the ice to melt. There appears to be no commercial devices available to assist such drivers.
This nearest prior art is reflected in the following U.S. Patents:
a.) U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,448, to Sasakii, et al. relates to a windshield defroster including a defroster outlet positioned within the dashboard of a vehicle, in which a cover plate is attached within the defroster outlet. The cover plate includes an opening and a plurality of bars which separate the opening into various sections, so that the bars within the cover plate prevent objects from dropping into the defroster outlet. The windshield defroster includes a duct attached to the bottom surface of the dashboard, and a heater is positioned within the duct, so that warm air can be distributed to the defroster outlet through the opening in the cover plate. The cover plate is swingably connected to the duct by a hinge, and the hinge is integrally formed with the duct and the cover plate. The cover plate has a lower surface in the vicinity of the hinge, and the duct has a horizontal first projection in the vicinity of the hinge. The lower surface of the cover plate is in contact with the horizontal first projection of the duct, and the cover plate is thereby horizontally supported without any additional support for the free end of the cover plate. PA1 b.) U.S. Pat. No. 4,602,556, to Gladden, teaches an air deflector for use with an air exhaust grill to deflect the air being discharged therethrough. The deflector includes an elongated plate member having first and second ends and a tab member attached to the first end of the plate member and clamped between the air exhaust grill and the supporting surface to position the plate member so as to deflect the air being exhausted through the air exhaust grill toward the second end of the plate member. PA1 c.) U.S. Pat. No. 4,637,298, to Yoshikawa, et al., is directed to a windshield defroster assembly for a vehicle dash-board including a defroster outlet having a plate attached therein to control the direction of flow of the heated air. The plate is slanted to direct the flow of the heated air. The bottom edge of the plate remains underneath the bottom surface of the dashboard. Heated air hits the rear surface of the plate, and the blowing direction of the heated air follows along the rear surface of the plate. When the heated air is discharged from the defroster outlet, the heated air is concentrated on an area of the windshield thereby removing frost and moisture from the entire surface of the windshield. A top edge of the plate is disposed at most only slightly over a top surface of the dashboard, so that the plate does not prevent the driver from seeing outside of the vehicle through the windshield.
None of the above prior art offers a simple, yet effective means to direct hot air toward the interior surface of the windshield. The manner by which this is accomplished will become more apparent in the description to follow, particularly when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.